I Tri and Craft

thoughts from a mother of boys, a marathoner, a triathlete, a crafter, a wife, and a scientist


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12 Days of Christmas Tradition ~ Day 9

One of the reasons I love the Christmas holiday is the traditions.

I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones.  I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.

As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.

This tradition started when we were kids.  Every Christmas Eve my mom would let us open one present.

Our Christmas Jammies.  She would always get us a new pair of jammies for us, and we wore them all day on Christmas.

As we got older we still got new jammies on Christmas Eve, until we had kids.  Now our kids get new jammies.

I have found that the only place to get jammies that fit both boys (4T and 18 mo sizes) is either the Gap or Old Navy.  Which is fine, because I love their jammies.  I had a hard time finding ones I really like this year, but I went back to Old Navy and found these monster ones and Ian loved them.

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I also get them a new Christmas movie to watch on Christmas Eve.  I was going to put popcorn in the box, but I forgot.  Since he fell asleep watching the movie, it was OK he didn’t get any popcorn.

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What are your Christmas Traditions?

 


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12 Days of Christmas Tradition ~ Day 8

One of the reasons I love the Christmas holiday is the traditions.

I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones.  I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.

As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.

This tradition I don’t let my family participate in.  Every year I stay up super late the couple of days before Christmas and wrap presents.

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I always think I will start early, and I always think I have plenty of time.

Of course I don’t!

So I stay up late, while everyone is asleep and wrap their presents.  At least I know I am not alone.  Mom’s across the world are doing the same thing.

I was able to squeeze in making these gift tags for the boys.  I didn’t want to write on their gifts from Santa, I don’t want them to eventually recognize my writing.

 

If you want to download a blank set of these gift tags you can do so here.

 

Happy Wrapping

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What are your Christmas Traditions?


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12 Days of Christmas Tradition ~ Day 7

One of the reasons I love the Christmas holiday is the traditions.

I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones.  I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.

As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.

When I was little we used to go to a Breakfast with Santa.  We would get dressed up and go downtown to Meier & Frank department store.  (OK, I am gonna be honest and say I don’t really know if that was where it was held, but that’s what I remember.  It might have happened elsewhere and my family will correct me when they read this)

In a gigantic beautifully decorated room we would have breakfast and Santa would show up.  We all took turns getting our pictures with Santa and telling him what we wanted for Christmas.

I don’t really remember the details, but I remember the magic and the joy I felt.

I later found out we stopped doing it because the event deteriorated.  The last year we attended we didn’t get a breakfast, but a box with a PB&J sandwich, or something like that.  Plus the quality of the event was more cheap then magical.  My mom decided it wasn’t worth it anymore.

Last year I decided I had to find a Breakfast with Santa event for us.

I found McMenamins, a local brewery & restaurant, hosts a Santa Breakfast.  I love McMenamins so I thought it would be perfect.  They have many wonderful restaurants around town.

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Both last year and this year, I bought tickets too late, so I didn’t get the location I wanted.  The last available location was at the Crystal Ballroom, a magnificent venue for concerts.

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It is a buffet breakfast, but a good one because McMenamins has good food.

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Santa comes early and you can go up at anytime to talk to him and take pictures.  They don’t have a professional photographer, you just take your own.

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Then all the kids run around and have a great time.

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I love doing this because the kids don’t have to wait for hours in a line to see Santa.  I will visit Santa this way for as long as I can.

 

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What are your Christmas Traditions?


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12 Days of Christmas Tradition ~ Day 6

One of the reasons I love the Christmas holiday is the traditions.

I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones.  I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.

As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.

Can you say COOKIES!!!

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Of course we have a Christmas Cookie Tradition.  Although it used to be me and my sister making cookies.  In the past she has been known to make a ridiculous amount of cookies.

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We need to make cookies for Ian’s school Christmas party.  So I enlisted the help of Ian.  And of course that meant Sid had to join the fun.

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They each got to roll some out and use the cookie cutters.

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But they got bored soon, and I had to finish the project.

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We didn’t end up frosting them.  The boys got sick and we ended up running out of time.  But then again, no frosting might be better for a room full of preschoolers.

 

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What are your Christmas Traditions?